


conviction

by necroeffect



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, As heck, Drabble, Error Sans - Freeform, Gen, au where ink sans remembers his past, did I mention ooc, hints of errorink if youre really looking for it, i dont even know, i forgot his backstory writing this like a dumbass, i guess?, im posting this trash i wrote so help me, ink sans - Freeform, its ooc, its there in spirit, theres no content for me to even tag, whoops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-11
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-06-25 18:48:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15646761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/necroeffect/pseuds/necroeffect
Summary: "I mean, what do you actually gain from this? From sheer destruction and chaos?"Error reacted with a snarl, seemingly rattled by his nemesis' rambling inquiries. "It's because I have to," he hissed-Ink tries to understand, despite himself.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> im not dead. take my shitty offering

* * *

 

 

"I don't get you." Ink spoke without prompt into the dark, endless expanse of void surrounding them. Error made a huff of annoyance at the sound, but did not silence him. He was too busy greedily gasping for air, trying to regain the stamina and mana that he had lost in their skirmish.

Ink was doing the very same, safe in the knowledge that Error had also run of energy to continue fighting. But neither of them were done here. Neither of them were finished fighting. It left them at a standstill.

There was no reason why Ink couldn't be using this time to dig at Error, to voice his thoughts. Or, that was his reasoning at the very least as he continued speaking steadfast. "I mean, what do you actually gain from this? From sheer _destruction_ and _chaos_?"

Error responded sharply. "Shut up, Ink."

"No, but seriously." Ink ignored his request. "Is it a superiority complex or what? Destruction for destruction's sake?"

Error reacted with a snarl, seemingly rattled by his nemesis' rambling inquiries. "It's because I _have_ to," he hissed. "Because mistakes like you–" A wave of blue threads were violently slung in Ink's direction. "–don't deserve to exist!"

The attack was _fast_ , and if Ink hadn't been prepared for Error to snap at his goading, the hit would have connected. He dodged out of the way, wincing at the small margin of error he had as it nicked his scarf.

The display of power did little to deter Ink from the conversation he had began. Especially as Error seemed to reel from the exertion the attack took on him. The glitch was no true threat to him after that display, despite the possible damage it had incurred. 

"Why?" He asked again, heedless. The glitch seemed agitated by his persistence, magic sparking at his fingertips. The ghosts of threads bleeding from his eyes for a fragment of a second.

"Why _what_?" 

"Why don't I deserve to exist?" Ink inquired innocently. "Explain them to me. Your convictions."

Error seemed off put by the inquiry, staring at his enemy, seemingly bemused.

"You're a glitch." He accused, as if it explained everything. And perhaps to Error, it did.

Ink was not satisfied in the slightest.

"And...?" He prompted, pulling a scowl from the corrupt skeleton.

"You shouldn't–" Error paused as if trying to pull his thoughts together before continuing. "– _exist._ You weren't _intended_. You're a _mistake_."

It was more interesting than he initially thought, Ink realized, trying to pull Error's motive from him. It still didn't make sense to Ink, but he could see how it could to someone else. How it could to Error.

"Perhaps I wasn't intended but people _create_ some of these worlds, you know." Ink told him. "They don't come out of thin air. SOUL is required to form anything in this space. I have seen it."

Error seemed unsettled by his explanation, if not suspicious. Ink continued, nonplussed. "And who's to say that we weren't _intended_ to be a mistake?"

"That doesn't make any goddamn sense–"

"The amalgamates, the original ones, were intended. Weren't they?" Ink asked. Error seemed to visibly pause at the question. "They were an accident though. A _mistake._ " He pointed out.

"T-that's completely different!" Error told him. He glitched heavily for a moment. Ink took that as a triumph.

~~What was he doing? What was he hoping to achieve here? What was he exactly trying to convince the genocidal glitch of? This feeling of victory– what was he _winning_ exactly?~~

"Is it?" He asked cheekily.

" _Yes."_

"How?" Ink inquired. Error gave him a look of utter contempt, but seemed to determined to prove him wrong.

Error started to explain, "they were a mistake on–" but caught himself as the word _purpose_ threatened to spill from his maw. The glitch seemed bothered, and unable to come up with a quick refute and alternative reasoning. Ink felt his grin widen, catching the near slip.

~~_What was he doing?_ Trying to unravel Error? To make him possibly more unstable? No, but why was he doing this? He gained  _nothing_. Surely his vials had been tampered with, or something to that end. What in creation's name was he doing?~~

"They were..." Error tried again, seeming to glitch slightly as he struggled to respond to Ink's prompt. He seemed troubled.

 ~~Why did the core of his being, where his SOUL lied once,~~ _~~ache?~~ _

"T–they..." Error faltered, and his glitching shifted to something consuming and utterly painful looking. Error seemed to struggle to stand under the status, gasps of pained breath escaping his mandible; his form tensing.

This was Ink's opening, he realized deftly. Error was weakened like this. That was certainly why he was doing this, right? To get under Error's skin, so he could finish him off once and for all? To force him into a state of disarray so he could finally bring this to end. So that Ink could stop Error's reign of terror once and for all. His destruction of the work of creators everywhere would be over. He could save hundreds of Alternate Universes. Thousands of SOULs, possibly.

Ink stepped forward with purpose towards the glitch. The sound of his footsteps seemed to resonate across the void, and at the sound, Error _knew._ He immediately stumbled backwards furiously, falling to the floor in a blind heap. Seemingly helpless and utterly defenseless.

He could end this, right now.

"Why?" Ink asked again, instead.

Error stared in his direction after he spoke, unseeing. His eyelights were lost in a sea corrupt messages and pixels that seemed to infect his form. Ink wondered if it was painful.

~~_What was he doing?_ ~~

"I... I have to." Error rasped quietly. " _I have to_." He repeated, with conviction. "They said..." Error stopped as soon as the words left his mouth, as if he had said something he shouldn't have. After a second he continued, " _Someone_ had to." Error told him, in a way as though it was a fact.

Perhaps to Error, it was.

The solid conviction Error had started with, however, seemed fragile now. Present, but hesitant and uncertain. Error himself seemed uncertain, if not lost. Afraid.

"You don't know." It wasn't a question.

Error did not answer.

After a moment of pregnant silence, the glitch got to his feet. His form appeared to tremble as he stood. If it was from either fear, rage, or pain Ink could not discern. He imagined it was all of them.

Error moved further away from Ink, and tore an exit from the void through the fabric of it's boundaries. Ink didn't stop him.

He could have.

The artist only gazed thoughtfully at bright, blinding rift Error left in his wake. He made no move to follow.

~~His core ached.~~

_Error didn't know._


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ink ignored him with a smile. "Did you ever figure it out?"
> 
> Error's twitching phalanges seemed to still. Error didn't reply immediately.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i meant to post this like 6 months ago

* * *

 

 

Error's destruction hadn't stopped, but it had certainly faltered after their encounter. The number of universes collapsing and being broken into dead husks of a world had lowered significantly. This occurring After Ink had asked  _Why_  and  _To what end_ and Error hadn't answered. Hadn't been able to.

Ink hadn't expected him to stop at all, if he were completely honest.

Which is why he was somewhat surprised to find him in a variation of Underswap sitting and merely  _watching_ the monsters of its domain go about their day as normal. Seeming contemplative.

Ink didn't hesitate to sit down next to him, drawing a surprised shriek from Error once his presence was noticed. Something  _warm_  like amusement pooled through his veins at the reaction. It was fainter than normal - his vials were starting to run thin - but he appreciated it nonetheless.

"Hey there," he greeted nonchalantly as Error seemed to attempt to gather his bearings.

"D-don't  _do that_." Error hissed angrily. As his anger faded, he appeared unsettled by Ink's proximity and casualty. His yellow fingers twitched nervously. It looked like he had no clue what do with himself, with the situation thrown upon him.

Ink took it in stride.

"Taking a break?" He inquired. "I hear that's supposed to be good for you. Gives you a clean sense of perspective and all that."

Error seemed to bristle at Ink's comment. "None of your business," came his reply, clipped and scathing.

"We both know that's a lie." Ink murmured, his eye lights trailing on the scenery around them. It was one of the more deceptively sinister variations of Underswap, but it's scenery was nevertheless cheerful and pleasant. "We're both in the same business, in a sense."

"I didn't ask for your commentary,  _pal_." Error grumbled out.

Ink ignored him with a smile. "Did you ever figure it out?"

Error's twitching phalanges seemed to still. Error didn't reply immediately. The sounds from the area around them seemed louder in the silence. The sound of hushed arguing and children playing quietly in the distance. Ink almost assumed Error was refusing to respond entirely, before-

"I wish someone had offered me the same mercy." His voice was low, and Ink almost struggled to hear the words through the thick distortion of his nemesis' voice.

"I remember pleading for death, begging and wishing for it back then." He spoke without preamble, certainly. "For anything but that  _nothingness._ " The words stirred something in him as he stared at Error, who seemed to be staring at the distance with unfocused eye lights. As though he wasn't looking at the scenery, but something else completely.

"All these worlds...  _broken messes_. Abandoned mistakes." He said with derisive scorn. "Eventually they would..." Error's voice caught as he trailed off. He didn't continue, and Ink didn't need him to.

Ink knew what he refused to say. He had seen it enough times; worlds crumbling in on themselves, breaking and splintering from their imperfections. For someone who interfered with other universes as much as Ink, there was no way to escape that eventuality to some worlds.

"I've seen it. I've  _felt_ it." Error confessed. " _Someone_  has to put them out of their misery." This was the most he had ever heard Error speak at once, Ink distantly realized. Something about the way he spoke at this moment seemed fragile; brittle.

Seeing Error exposed like this made something in him soften.

"Its mercy in the end, despite what you may think." Error told him, conviction steady in his tone.

"That doesn't make it right," Ink protested immediately. "And even if they were  _doomed_ \- then  _fine_  -but what about the ones that weren't?" He pressed, something like incredulity bleeding into his voice. "Some of them were perfectly  _stable_  and-"

He knew there were Universes that had been  _fine_  that had perished under Error's hand. It was unnecessary, a crime against its creator-

"But for how long?" Error interrupted him angrily, seeming just as riled up about this as Ink found himself becoming. "How many RESETS until they fall to pieces?" He asked. "How long until something like Fresh comes along and sends it down that path?"

"What makes what you're doing any better than him, then?" Ink asked, bemused.

Error seemed outright offended by the inquiry. "Don't you dare compare us. I'm not like him." He hissed.

"But your destruction is not swift and merciful, Error. Quite the opposite." Ink pointed out. "The things you do Error... they suffer. You take  _trophies._ "

"They're already  _dead._ " Error told him, angrily. "They're nothing but glitches.  _Mistakes!_  What does it matter? There's nothing for them to go back to anyway."

There was the hypocrisy again, just when Ink was starting to believe there was a sense to Error's madness.

He was a fool to think so, even for a second. There was no sense in insanity.

"I didn't ask for your opinion anyway," Error spoke, abruptly getting up from his perch. He started to summon a portal to depart, the scene before him corroding before Ink's eyes. "I figured it out. Aren't you satisfied?"

Ink thought about it for a moment, pausing for a long beat before replying.

"Not really." Ink told him honestly. Error stared at him for a moment before scoffing, his face revealing nothing.

"Shame." Error told him without any remorse. He departed.

Ink didn't leave for a while, despite Error's absence. He mused over Error's answer.

Ink thought about  _before_. When he had been forgotten and incomplete, in a prison that was supposed to be his home. He remembered his brother, ( _broken. He had been broken it wasn't fair wasn't **right**._ ) He remembered the loneliness. The pain. The desperation.

(He would never forget.  _Nevernevernever._ )

He wondered if, back then, in that half molded and broken place he had been born before he had- well... broken himself to break free, if he would have appreciated Error's sense of mercy.

The feelings that arose from that train of thought made him appreciative his vials weren't well stocked. His eyes burned. His chest  _ **ached.**_

Suddenly, he wished he hadn't asked.


End file.
